In a New Dimension
by PerpetualRetrograde
Summary: One Piece/Naruto Crossover. The Mugiwara crew try to take a vacation and end up in the country of Fire where they meet team kakshi, returning from a mission. Unfortunately the Mugiwara crew doesn't quite blend in.
1. Chapter 1: Enter! Mugiwara Crew!

"Oi Nami, where are we?" Zoro growled for the fifth time. A vein visibly popped on Nami's forehead as she ground her teeth and stared at the purchased map in frustration.

"I'm _working_ on it."

"Are we lost?" Chopper asked timidly.

"I'm huuuungry," whined Luffy.

Something in Nami snapped. "SHUT UP!" she yelled at her uncooperative crew. Throwing down the useless map she stomped through the forest trail. The air was humid and stuck to her skin making the situation several times worse.

Bartholomew Kuma Inc., the New World travel agency, had sent them into a place they called "Hi no Kuni"-land of fire. The visit had been cheap and feeling that the crew deserved a break Nami had obliged seeing it as a chance to relax. But when they had woken up they had been in the middle of a thick forest that seemed to swallow them no matter which way they moved. More so, they had not even seen a fragment of the ocean in the past day and a half they had wandered. The overwhelming amount of land took them by surprise.

"Oh great now she's mad," Usopp groaned, scratching his nose. "I wish—"

A scream interrupted him. The crew froze to see Nami dashing back to them, her eyes wide and hair wild.

"Nami!" Luffy shouted, "what happened?"

"We're being attacked!" she screamed back, reaching them. Before she could explain something exploded in front of the crew and a great cloud of smoke filled the air.

"What the hell?" Usopp shouted.

In front of them was the oddest sight they had ever seen. A boy, looking around Luffy's age, stared back at them with wide unblinking blue eyes. His hair was a shocking shade of yellow clashing with his orange and black jumpsuit. Beside him was a man with half his face covered with a black cloth and gravity-defying white hair and a girl with pink hair wearing a red dress-like outfit. All three of them wore bands around their heads with a curling symbol.

"Who are you?" the one with the pink hair demanded.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy," Luffy announced, "and this is the Straw Hat Crew."

"Straw Hat Crew?" the blonde turned to the white haired man, "is that some sort of new country I haven't heard about?"

"Country?" Nami interjected, "we aren't from a country. We're pirates."

"Pirates!" the blonde exclaimed. His eyes narrowed. Used to this reaction from civilians the crew took it all in a stride.

"Don't worry, we won't try to steal anything," Chopper assured them, "But we're kind of lost. We came here from the Grand Line."

"Th-that raccoon just talked," the girl with the pink hair stuttered, pointing at Chopper.

"I'm a reindeer!" he snapped.

"Reindeers can't talk," she snapped back.

"Maybe he's a shinobi reindeer…like Kakashi sensei's dogs," the blonde suggested.

Kakashi looked at his team then back to the strange group that stood before him. Half of them were half dressed. The one in the red vest appeared to be the leader and he had nothing on except for the vest leaving a giant scar and his abs in full view. Judging by their physique, these people were used to combat and should not be undermined. He had never heard of country by the name of "Grand Line" either. After thinking the situation through he decided it would be best to bring these people to the Hokage and have them state their business.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi and this is Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto. Welcome to the Land of Fire," Kakshi interjected smoothly. "If you would like we can lead you to our village and you can speak to the Hokage about your…" he searched for the right words, "current situation."

"Hokage?" the one with the red vest asked, "is that something you eat?"

Sakura stared at Naruto questioningly.

"No, the Hokage is one of the top shinobi in the country," Naruto said, pride entering his voice. "The Hokage is the leader of the land of fire. There are four more kages and together the five serve as order for the entire country."

"I think he means something like the world government," Usopp whispered.

"But we're enemies of the world government," Chopper said worriedly, "won't they lock us up?"

"Do not fear Chopper san!" Brook suddenly materialized beside Chopper, "We're all together so nothing can hurt us now! Yohohohoho!"

Sakura screamed, her face white.

"A sk…sk…ske," she stuttered, pointing at Brook.

"Yohohoho! I am called Brook. Nice to meet your acquaintance." Brook bowed, taking off his top hat.

"It's okay," Luffy said cheerfully, "he ate the Yomi Yomi fruit so he's still alive even after dying."

Brook straightened and looked at Sakura. "May I see your underwear?"

Sakura flushed a bright red.

"HENTAI!" she roared, drawing back her fist. A cloud of dust exploded.

"Me?" Franky piped in.

The dust cleared revealing Brook imprinted seven feet deep into the ground.

"Yoho..ho…ho." Brook stilled.

"No! His spirit is getting away!" Luffy yelled, "catch it!"

As Ussop, Chopper, and Luffy chased after Brook's green ghost Nami could feel a very large headache coming on. Doing her best to maintain her smile she turned to Kakashi politely.

"Excuse me, what's the name of this island?" she asked.

…

Back at Bartholomew Kuma Inc. Bartholomew Kuma realized as he read through the documents sitting on his desk that he had made a very big mistake. Of course his colleagues didn't know as his face remained perfectly impassive behind his glasses but inside his head was reeling.

_Uh Oh _

He double checked the papers hoping that he had made a mistake the first thirteen times he had read through them. His brows knitted underneath his hat. He had meant to send the Mugiwara crew to an island around the South Blue area. Damn. He grabbed the pamphlet he had given Nami from a nearby stack.

_I knew it_

He had meant to send them to the Fire Islands. He had sent them to the Land of Fire, located in a different dimension. Refraining from slamming his head into the desk, Kuma reached across the office paraphernalia and dug out the phone.

"Put me through to Vegapunk," he commanded as soon as it picked up.

A few minutes and annoyed snorts later Vegapunk came on the line.

"What do you want?" the temperamental mad genius asked impatiently.

"I need a transport now," Kuma said in a low voice, "I sent a group of customers to the wrong place."

"How far?"

"Different dimension. I mixed up the names."

He heard Vegapunk swear.

"Different dimension? In the middle of all this work I'm doing you want me to prepare you for a transport to another dimension?" Vegapunk raged, "You work me too damn hard Kuma!"

"How soon can it be ready?"

More swearing. "Three days," Vegapunk replied flatly, "I'll need three days at least."

"Okay, then I'll see you in three days."

Kuma hung up before Vegapunk could give him a piece of his mind. He latched his hands at the back of his head and heaved a great sigh.

….

"I'm gonna kick that Kuma back to the East Blue when I get hold of him," Nami muttered underneath her breath. She violently whapped a particularly low branch away as the Mugiwara crew tramped after the three "shinobi" as they called themselves.

"Shishishishi, don't be like that. At least we're going where they have food." Luffy leaned towards Naruto, "Na, what's that thing on your head?"

"This?" Naruto tugged on his headband. "This is a proof I successfully graduated from the Academy."

"Eh? The Academy?" Luffy asked.

"I can't believe it," Sakura whispered to Kakashi, "They have a talking reindeer and a moving skeleton…I have a bad feeling about this sensei. And I think we just found somebody dumber than Naruto."

"HAHA Sanji it looks like your eyebrow!" Luffy cracked.

"Shut up!" Sanji roared turning red as he heard Zoro snicker behind his back. He turned on him in an instant. "YOU WANNA GO MARIMO HEAD?"

Zoro drew his sword. "BRING IT!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Nami shouted.

"They're a pretty lively group yeah," Kakashi conceded. He stopped as the path widened out and pointed at the gate that emerged seemingly out of nowhere. "We're here," he announced.

"Wow, where's that?" Usopp asked.

"Suuuper," Franky whistled.

"Errr…what was it…Mugiwara crew?…Welcome to Konoha."


	2. Chapter 2: New Mission

Tsunade was tired. She was tired of these debts flooding her desk day after day, demanding to be paid. Her impromptu career on the road had allowed her continuously run away from these debts but the position of Hokage was like a publicized beacon. She would forever be chained to these responsibilities and this desk. Shizune wasn't the greatest sympathizer either.

"Tsunade sama! Please stop slacking at do your work!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Tsunade grumbled not moving an inch. She stared out the window and wondered when she would be able to stop for some Konoha dango…and maybe a bottle or two of warm sake.

"Tsunade sama!"

"Tsunade baachan!"

A familiar voice burst into her thoughts as the door crashed rudely open. Hadn't Jiraya ever taught his student how to knock? Tsunade sighed and clasped her hands in an arch in front of her. She would have to deal. As usual.

But nothing prepared her for the wild crowd that entered behind team Kakashi.

"Where are we?" a black haired boy in a red vest asked looking around, "is there food here?"

The girl with the orange hair smacked him firmly on the head. "Luffy, behave," she hissed through her teeth. Tsunade regarded her thoughtfully. She was only wearing the top of a bikini swimsuit with her jeans. Then again, the blue haired….thing behind her wasn't wearing any pants over his triangular underwear. Was that a skeleton? What was the boy with the bright green hair? And where did the boy in front receive the terrible scar on his chest? Was that a walking raccoon?

As these questions flew threw her mind Tsunade glanced at Kakashi who looked more than a little worn out.

"Well?" she prompted.

"These are the "Mugiwara Crew" from the country of "Grand Line—"

"It's not a country," the muscular boy with the protruding nose interrupted, "it's a belt of ocean that goes around the center of the world."

Silence followed. "errr…we found them in the middle of the forest and they seemed quite…unfamiliar with their surroundings so we brought them here." Kakashi continued, rubbing his head.

Tsunade stared at the group impassively. "Maybe they should explain," she said slowly.

"I'm sorry ma'am," the orange haired girl stepped forward politely. The leader? But no, she didn't have the aura of a leader. "Let me explain. We've actually mistakenly been transported here from a different dimension. The travel agency we were using is most likely going to be around in a few days to pick us up. Until then, we were wondering if you could offer us a place to stay."

Tsunade had heard of trans-dimensional travel before but it had only existed in the gossips of bored seniors.

"A place to stay eh? Well we can handle that easily enough. Naruto and Sakura! You two lead these…guests to the inn and then show them around town. Got it?"

"But Shisho—"Sakura started to interrupt. Tsunade threw a look at her that immediately snapped her jaw shut.

"Yosh, then let's go!" Naruto yelled, walking enthusiastically out the door. Whoever these people were, they seemed interesting. The group trailed after him followed by Sakura who still looked doubtful. As the door slammed shut Tsunade heaved yet another sigh.

"Kakashi."

"Yes?"

"Keep an eye on them alright? I do not sense any malicious intent but until they leave…." Tsunade trailed off. "Got it?"

"Yes ma'am."

Kakshi disappeared, flying through the window. Tsunade rested her head on her desk feeling more tired than usual. It appears, she mused, that Konoha will be a bit noisy for the next few days.

She had no idea how correct she was. The next day, her office was invaded first thing in the morning by a certain yellow haired boy.

"Tsunade obaachan!"

"What now?" she groaned.

Naruto was dragging the black haired boy from yesterday by the arm, followed by the orange haired girl and the swordsman.

"I need a high paying mission," Naruto demanded, "right now."

"My you're eager to work today…I can't give you the mission until Kakashi and Sakura—"

"I'm going on the mission with them." Naruto motioned towards the black haired boy and green haired swordsman. "Their names are Luffy and Zoro."

_What in the world?_

"Yo Tsunedo baachan!' the black haired boy, Luffy, greeted.

"It's Tsu-na-de!" Naruto snapped. "You're an idiot!"

"I can't allow missions to anybody but trained shinobi Naruto," Tsunade said severely.

"Please, I'm begging you!" Naruto said desperately, "Sakura chan is mad at me and I can't find Kakashi sensei! They won't help me pay off the debt!"

"Debt?" Tsunade internally shuddered at the word.

"To Ichiruka Ramen! This guy," Naurot jabbed a finger at Luffy, "ate sixty five bowls of jumbo ramen straight and doesn't have the right type of money to pay for it!"

_Oh_. It was a situation she could relate to but she wasn't about to show it.

"They don't use yen, they use some sort of weird bug-sounding thing."

"Berry," the orange haired girl said crossly.

"Anyway," Naruto clasped his hands together and inclined his head, "I'm begging you Tsunade baachan!"

"Can they even fight?" Tsunade asked, evaluating the people in front of her. It was a pointless question. Their bodies were used to physical exertion, even more so then most jounins they had. That much was obvious.

"This guy has a forty million berry bounty on his head," the orange haired girl offered. "And Zoro can cut through pretty much anything. And both of them are very good at breaking things."

If that was four hundred million yen…he'd be categorized as an s-class criminal. Tsunade felt a head ache coming on. If she was dealing with criminals from another dimension, what the hell was she supposed to do?

"So you're wanted criminals in your world" she asked through her teeth.

"Well, it's a bit complicated," the girl hesitated, "we have a world government and Marine troops that try to catch pirates…but it's the era of the pirates and we don't actually steal anything."

Tsunade gave up. She'd trust her gut. They didn't seem like bad kids.

"Ne Tsunoda baachan! I'll beg you too!" Luffy imitated Naruto and clasped his hands together.

"It's Tsu-na-de!" the girl and Naruto yelled at the same time.

Tsunade rubbed her temples. "Okay fine," she finally conceded, "I'll make an exception this time but _only_ this time. Got it?"

"Yay! Thank you Tsunade baachan!" Naruto yelled joyfully.

"Shishishi, you're a good persona aren't ya Tsudede baachan?"

Nartuo gave up. Tsunade flipped through the mission book.

"Okay, this is a B rank," she said, "so be careful. You will be going to the Country of Trees to the Hidden Village of Grass. They wish to make an alliance with us, being a small country, so you will guide the negotiator back here."

"Leave it to me!" Naruto said thumping his chest.

Tsunade watched as the group exited her office. The Country of Tree was relatively new…but certain activities that had been occurring in the area aroused her suspicions. She would have Naruto bring them here and see for herself. It should be relatively harmless despite being a B rank.

Shaking her head, Tsunade pushed the issue to the back of her mind and faced the papers in front of her.

Time for work.


	3. Chapter 3: Disappearance

"Na, na," Luffy asked for the five hundredth time, "when do we stop for food?"

Naruto was slowly approaching a limit he didn't know existed. Monkey D. Luffy was one of strangest people he had ever met and he wasn't quite sure if he could deal with him any longer. Irritation was getting the best of him.

"It'll only take until tomorrow morning to get there," Naruto replied as calmly as he could. Secretly, he was glad Sakura wasn't here as she would have most likely beat the living daylights out of Luffy within the first five minutes. "So we don't need to stop and eat."

"Will they have food there?" Luffy asked curiously. He seemed completely unaware of the strain in Naruto's voice.

"Yeah, but we aren't going there to eat. Have an energy pill." Naruto tossed Luffy the bottle. He saw Luffy shake one out onto his palm and stare at it curiously.

"Isn't this thing the thing that Jordy Hones at on Fishman Island to get stronger?" Luffy asked, turning to the green haired swordsman. He had been completely silent compared to Luffy but he had managed to veer off the straight road five times in the last three hours. Naruto found himself glancing at the older boy periodically to make sure he was still there and not somewhere in the middle of the forest.

"His name was Hordy Jones Luffy," the green-haired boy growled. He had a deeper voice than Kakashi sensei.

"Yeah, him. I don't think these are safe to eat." Luffy handed the bottle back to Naruto. "Na, Nanato, can we go any faster?"

"It's Naruto. We can, but are you sure you'll be able to keep up?" Naruto asked doubtfully. These two, strong as they might be, did not receive proper Shinobi training. They could cut through the woods and make it to the country faster but that would mean leaping through the trees.

"Yeah, we can keep up fine."

"You sure?"

Naruto suddenly had an idea. He could probably leave the two pirates behind and go to the Tree Country on his own. He could get the negotiators and then come back to pick them up, given that Zoro didn't get lost again. He could also spare himself the trouble of having to answer an endless stream of questions about food.

"Okay then, let's go this way." Naruto leaped powerfully onto the first tree.

….

"You guys still okay?" Naruto called as he bounced comfortably from branch to branch. The green foliage surrounded them in a thick tunnel.

"This is fun!" he heard Luffy cry.

Curious, Naruto turned to see where the rest of his group was and nearly fell of the tree. He almost subconsciously concentrated his chakra at the bottom of his feet, preventing the potentially painful fall. Hanging upside down from the branch, he gaped at his companions.

Luffy's arms were stretching.

He would swing; his agile body landing smoothly on a branch. Then thrusting his arms back, they would stretch forward like a rubber band and grab another branch maybe ten or twelve feet in front. The swordsman followed easily behind making the entire process look like a walk in the park.

"Why are your arms stretching?" Naruto almost screeched.

"Eh?" Luffy skidded to a stop on Naruto's branch and swung upside down so he was eye to eye with Naruto. Naruto could see the legs winding around the branch like the body of a snake. He had heard of ninjutsu that could make your body stretch but these people from another dimension could hardly use ninjutsu could they? Did they even have a chakra circulation system in their bodies?

"Then why are you hanging upside down?" Luffy asked, cocking his head.

"Me? I'm concentrating my chakra at the bottom of my feet. It's keeping me from falling to the ground," Naruto explained, still dazed. The swordsman had caught up and sat crouching on a nearby branch, looking at the two boys with detached interest.

"Chakra? What's that?" Luffy asked.

"It's…wait, you still haven't told me why you're stretching!" Naurto said accusingly.

Luffy grinned. "I'm a devil fruit user."

"Devil fruit?"

"In our world we have fruit that give you special powers."

"Power?" Naruto glanced at Zoro. "Can you stretch too?"

"Nah, I'm not a devil fruit user. I'm just a swordsman," he replied.

Luffy swung playfully from the branch, stretching his arms so his fingertips swiped the ground. "Zoro is crazy strong," he boasted, "he can cut through steel. Shishishishi."

Naruto stared at them, dumbstruck. Devil fruit users? Swordsman that could cut through steel? What the hell was he exactly dealing with here?

….

Meanwhile, unaware of Naruto's quandary, Tsunade was enjoying a plate of dango at the Konoha village. Shizune sat across from her, lecturing as usual about how she _should_ be doing her work and did she _know_ what the responsibility of a Hokage entitled? Tsunade had learned to tune her out years ago. Now she watched a group of the Acadmey students play kickball in front of the store.

"YOHOHOHOHO!"

A loud laugh broke into her peace. The skeleton with the purple cane bounced up and down in front of the children, tipping his hat to them. The children screamed at scattered.

"Oi, Brook!" the blonde barked from behind. He carried several large bags from the Konoha Grocery, a smoke clenched between his teeth. "Settle down!"

"But this is a really peaceful village," a third voice remarked happily.

It was the raccoon with the blue hat. He seemed to be on all fours this time opposed to earlier when he had been standing, like a human. A large pile of shopping bags was strapped to his back.

"Isn't it, Chopper san?" the skeleton piped, "all the ladies here are quite lovely too."

"Don't drop those, Chopper." The blonde motioned at the cargo. "Those are Nami-swan and Robin-chan's precious purchases."

"Yes sir!" the raccoon, Chopper, answered enthusiastically.

"Ah!" the skeleton pointed his finger bone at Tsunade. "It's the Hokage!"

Tsunade waved back, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

The blonde smacked the skeleton on the head. "Brook! Don't point at a lady!" The skeleton crashed into the ground from the force of the blow, leaving a large dent in the ground. Shizune yelped.

Brook rattled as he picked himself back up, seemingly unhurt. "YOHOHOHO, Sanji san, you are such a gentlemen it's making my heart jump out of my chest with admiration! Although I don't have a heart! YOHOHOHO! Skuulllllllll joke!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sanji bowed politely towards Tsunade and Shizune. "My apologies ladies," he said seductively, "my friend seems to be a little hyper."

"No…it's fine…." Tsunade glanced over at her assistant. Shizune looked equally blank. "I'm…glad to see you seem to be enjoying the village?"

"Yes, it's a beautiful village," Chopper piped. Tsunade decided to think of him as a shinobi raccoon. Yes, that was for the best. She motioned towards the bags.

"You went shopping? Did you have the correct currency?" Although she said this off-handedly, Tsunade suddenly realized she should be concerned. Didn't she just send the black haired boy and the swordsman on a mission _because_ they didn't have the right currency?"

"Oh…Nami swan put it on a tab. She says she'll pay it back when out captain returns."

Captain? He must be talking about the green haired swordsman. Yes, it made sense for him to be the leader.

"Are you sure?" Tsunade asked, "although this is a B-rank mission, they don't pay that much."

"Nami says she has all the calculations figured out, Na?" Chopper turned to Sanji for reassurance. The blonde nodded.

"Nami was…the orange haired one?" Shizune asked.

"Yes, and Nami-san is very smart! Yohohohoho."

A veteran in the world of debts, Tsunade wondered if the girl knew what she was dealing with. Konoha store keepers were notorious for being tough bargainers.

…

"Ne, Robin, what about this one?"

On the other side of town, the "girl" was trying on yet another set of clothes at the Konoha clothing store. Robin smiled.

"It looks quite nice."

"Really?" Nami looked critically at the dress. She sighed and put it back. "It's cute but it's not really my style. Oh well…let's go to the bookstore you wanted to visit."

As the two women left the shop, a pair detached themselves from the wall and casually followed them.

"This is so annoying," Shikamaru complained, head clasped behind his hands. "Why do we have to follow girls?"

"Didn't you hear Shikamaru?" Chouji munched on his chips, "they might be dangerous criminals. Their captain has a four hundred million bounty."

"Oi, oi, that's a little too much isn't it?" Shikamaru sighed. "So troublesome…"

….

"What the hell happened here?" Naruto asked shakily.

The two pirates had absolutely no problem keeping up with him. They had arrived at Hidden Village of Grass by nightfall. Now underneath the cold glare of moonlight, Naruto stared at what might have once been a civilization.

The houses lay in charred heaps. The ground reeked of blood. As the three boys walked through the destruction, Luffy realized something unusual.

"Oi," he said seriously, "where is everybody?"

Sure enough, as Naruto looked around the village, he could not spot one corpse. The buildings were empty and the surrounding air was completely silent. It was as if everybody had been spirited away.

_What's going on here?_


	4. Chapter 4: A Strange Message

"Have you found anything yet?" Naruto yelled at Luffy and Zoro. The three boys were faithfully digging through the burned mess, searching for survivors or even corpses; any evidence that might prove that people had one inhabited this burned out shell.

"No!" Luffy was crouched inside one of the home, squinting in the ash-filled gloom.

"There's nothing here either!" Zoro shouted from the other end of the small town. It was close to midnight now and the moon provided only light that shed on their gruesome work.

Naruto stood up. It was late and he was tired. They would just have to return to Konoha the following day and report to Tsunade about what happened. He sighed. They had come out all the way here for nothing.

"Hey! We're setting up camp now!" Naruto called to his companions. Luffy and Zoro rapidly appeared from the shadows, gray streaks of charcoal across their faces. Naruto had no doubt he looked more or less the same.

The three trudged into the woods, searching for a clearing to set up their tents in. Finding one, Naruto dropped his pack and assumed command.

"I'll find a river and get water. One of you set up the tent and the other, gather some firewood."

"I got the tent," Zoro said, grabbing the thick bundle.

"Wood right?" Luffy scuttled off into the darkness. Naruto hoped he had a better sense of direction than Zoro. Sighing, he headed off into the opposite direction, in search for water.

…..

Tsunade was tired. It was in the middle of the night and she was still stuck in her office sorting through paperwork. Even Shizune had gone to sleep. Sighing, Tsunade briefly rested her head on her desk, rubbing her temples. She needed a break from this job. She was already falling asleep when loud knocking on the door rudely returned her to consciousness.

"Come in," Tsunade ordered irritably, patting down her hair. A translator entered carrying four scrolls with her. Bowing respectfully, she set them in front of Tsunade.

"Four scrolls arrived just now from the four other main hidden villages," the unnamed translator stated. "None seem particularly urgent but all four contain the same message."

"They came at the same time?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes ma'am."

Suddenly Tsunade was wide awake. The hidden villages were by no means the same distance apart. For them to have arrived at the same time was a very unlikely coincidence. It could be seen as impossible unless somebody purposely choreographed a timed release at the four locations.

If her year in the gambling industries taught her anything, it was not to believe in coincidences.

"Good work," she said distractedly, dismissing the translator. She reached for the first scroll and unrolled it carefully as the door shut softly.

"What in the world…"

Tsunade stared at the opened scrolls, spread out across her desk. As the translator had said, each contained the same message; a diagram of a crescent moon drawn in red ink. What that symbol meant Tsunade did not have the slightest idea. But she did, however, recognize a second diagram drawn in the lower corner of the scrolls; three black lines with a fourth line slashed diagonally across it, representing the village of grass.

"What's going on here?" Tsunade muttered to herself. She retrieved the book of missions from her desk drawer and flipped through it until she found what she wanted; the request for Konoha to draw an alliance with the Hidden Village of Grass. Nothing seemed out of place on the original request. Tsunade looked back at the four matching scrolls.

_Forgery?_

It was a possibility. It wouldn't have been too much trouble for a skilled shinobi to steal a messenger bird or two and send the message. The birds, trained as they might be, were dumb creatures; different from a dog or a cat. But for what purpose would anybody go through so much trouble?

_This is definitely not an accident_. _Somebody is trying to get a message across_

"And whatever it is connected to the Village of Grass," Tsunade said aloud, drumming her fingers on her desk. She could hardly wake the ANBU units and half the village in the middle of the night because she felt uncomfortable about a little picture, could she? She would just wait for Naruto's return and clear it up with the negotiator. Meanwhile, she could ask the other Kages a couple of questions regarding the strange symbol. She reached over for a fresh parchment and an inkbrush.

….

Naruto sighed and rolled over onto his side. The tent was uncomfortably crowded. The swordsman was on the far end, snoring his green head off, and Luffy was in the middle, periodically lashing out at air with powerful punches. Neither seemed to have much of an issue falling asleep.

Feeling nature calling, Naruto quietly slid out of his sleeping bag and crawled his way to the opening of the tent. It was full moon tonight and the path to the woods was flooded with silver light. Yawning, he picked his way over the smoldering remains of their fire and dinner. On his way to find wood, Luffy had managed to catch a wild boar. Although Luffy had eaten more than half of the meat, Naruto decided he held a new respect for the other boy.

As he finished doing his business, Naruto zipped up the front of his pants when he sensed a new presence. He froze in place, slowing his breathing. His eyes swiveled around his surroundings but found nothing.

_Maybe an animal?_

Naruto slowly released the tension in his muscles, deciding he was being paranoid after the sudden confrontation with the destroyed village. He started back towards the tent and was less than fifteen feet away when his eyes caught movement. He froze again. Two shadows were lingering at the edge of the tent. Luffy? But the figures were too large to be Luffy. Suddenly filled with foreboding, Naruto started to sprint back.

He never made it.

His vision turned into a giant blur as if somebody had placed distorted glass over his eyes. His knees gave out. The world tilted at dangerous angles as he fell to the ground. He tried to cry out but his voice refused to function. The last thing he remembered was the clean scent of grass in his nose.

He passed out.

…..

"You got them?"

"Yeah, I got them," a new voice responded irritably. "It was easier than expected."

Seven figures were clearly outlined in the strange bluish light that illuminated the spacious room. Three bundles were dropped to the ground, firmly tied in chains.

"Are we going to use them today?" one of the figures asked, his glasses glinting from the shadows.

"Nah, we need them. They're from Konoha, after all." The first voice, seemingly the leader, crouched down beside the three bundles. "But these are some strangely dressed Shinobi. Never seen clothing like these. Huh." He straightened back up. "Besides, we already have plenty of material to work with. We can wait on these three."

The six other figures snickered. As they dispersed to their individual quarters, the moonlight glanced off the walls, flooding in from the gap in the ceiling. Where the white light had looked natural in the woods, it looked cold in the surroundings of the room. Naruto groaned and shifted in his bonds, feeling as if he was going to be sick. The two other bundles beside him were completely still. He hoped they weren't dead. Then again, they didn't seem to be the type to die easily. With these half-formed thoughts, Naruto looked dazedly around the unfamiliar space, his eyes landing on the farthest wall. On it, illuminated by the bluish light, was a drawing of a crescent moon drawn in red ink.

_What the hell…_

He fell back into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5: Commence Attack

Tsunade received a reply from Gaara the following morning. The Hidden Village of Sand seemed to be doing well after the confusion following Gaara's kidnapping had settled down. Tsunade read through the greeting quickly, impatient for an answer to her questions.

_I have not sent a message to Konoha recently. Whatever that message contained, it is irrelevant to the Village of Sand. But regarding the symbol itself, it supposedly represented an obscure brigade of shinobi from decades ago. I do not know the details, but according to Ebizo they were reclusive ninjas who committed their lives to research of the human body. Not much is known outside of this._

Tsunade read twice through the note. Medical nin? If they had been significant in any way, she was almost positive she would have heard of them. But what could an obsolete research group possible have anything to do with a new country looking for an alliance?

_There must be something that connects the two_ Tsunade decided something _I'm missing something…_

Tsunade stared out the window. Naruto should be returning tonight with the negotiator. Perhaps she would gain some insight then.

…...

Naruto woke up with a start. He stared wildly around his surroundings. He couldn't move. The ground was rumbling. The air was suffocating. Panic erupted in his chest.

_Where am I?_

Breathing slowly through his nose, he forced himself to calm down. Freaking out had little advantage. Naruto suddenly recalled Shikamaru's words.

A Ninja always takes his surroundings into consideration.

_Analyze the situation_

Naruto glanced around. Judging by the closeness of the brown cloth that covered him, he guessed he was in a sack of some sort. His hands were bound behind his back and his ankles had been tied together. He discovered his mouth had also been gagged. The moving ground indicated he was on some sort of transportation. A cart perhaps. The realization didn't calm him down at all.

Squirming with discomfort, he forced himself to paw through his hazy memories. Last night they had been sleeping. He had slipped out to pee in the woods. Then…

_Something weird happened to my brain _

With sudden clarity, Naruto recalled the strange distortion that had caused the world to look like a reflection in choppy water. There had been no pain, although he was plenty sore now, and as far as he could remember he hadn't been tortured. So what exactly was the goal of his captors? And what happened to Luffy and Zoro?

"I'd say two more hours."

A mumbled voice caught Naruto's attention. Tuning his ears to the sound, he concentrated hard. The voice seemed to be coming from far away, as if speaking through a pile of blankets.

"We'll launch…."

The voices lowered.

"….them…."

"We can't….."

"so…"

_This is no use._ Naruto almost growled with frustration. He couldn't hear anything else. He wished he knew at least where they were going. He tried to move his hands, but to no avail. They were tied far too skillfully.

_Damn. I'm stuck._

…...

Tsunade clucked her tongue impatiently, staring at the clock. It was well past the time Naruto should have arrived with the negotiator. Most of the town was probably asleep by now anyway.

"Where is that boy?" she muttered to herself.

Shizune looked disapprovingly at the stacks of unsorted papers on Tsunade's desk. "Tsunade sama," she said sternly, "I certainly understand your concerns but please, finish your work first!"

Tsunade barely seemed to have heard her.

"Tsunade sama!"

"Tsunade sama!"

Both women turned as the door burst open. An ANBU member stumbled into the room, clutching a bleeding right shoulder. "Konoha is under attack!"

…...

Kiba yawned as he walked down the darkened streets. He had stayed out late night training with Akamaru, and now he was dead tired. He couldn't wait to sink into a bath and then sleep, wrapped in the comfortable warmth of Akamaru's fur. He was near Ichiruka ramen when Akamaru barked warningly.

"What is it boy?" Kiba lifted his nose to the air and inhaled. His eyes shot open. Unfamiliar scents were thick in the air, intermingling with an all too familiar metallic tang.

Blood.

Just then alarms started ringing, alerting the whole village of an attack. Lights in windows abruptly turned on. Doors were beginning to open.

"Let's go boy!" Kiba shouted. He started to sprint, changing direction from his home to the Hokage building where the ANBU, jounin, and chunin would all gather. _Intruder? From where?_ _Why now?_ Kiba's thoughts reeled. Akamaru barked again. Kiba nodded shortly and leaped on top of Akamaru's back, clutching on tight with both his legs. His exhaustion was already forgotten

…...

Naruto heard alarms. Still in his uncomfortable sack, he shifted, trying to grasp the situation. The cart had stopped moving long ago and every muscle in Naruto's body ached from the bumpy trip. He screamed into his gag again, but couldn't manage more than a tiny yelp, buried under whatever was muffling the voices of his captors. And he still had no idea how Luffy and Zoro were doing.

Suddenly, the heavy weight pressing on top of him disappeared. He could acutely hear somebody breathing near his ear as he was lifted and thrown into the air. His stomach leaped as he felt himself beginning to fall when something else caught him roughly around the legs. He was swung around at a dizzying pace and dropped onto a hard surface. All movements stopped.

After a minute of silence, he dared to move again. Wherever he was, he was out. He thought if he kicked out with both legs he might be able to catch his captors' attention. Scooting onto his back with some difficulty, he bent his legs, readying himself for the first kick when a hand clasped on his collar and yanked him hard. The sack fell away and Naruto took in a deep breath of fresh air, feeling relieved as it washed over his sweaty back and face.

"Hey, this one was awake," a snide voice snickered.

Naruto felt gravity take over as he was dropped unceremoniously to the ground. He craned his head to glimpse his attackers but found his face being dashed to the ground with a heavy foot. Pain exploded in his nose and he could feel the trickles of blood down his lips. Somebody laughed and dragged his head up by the hair.

Naruto found himself looking at the two vivid green eyes set into a smooth, young face. His eyes widened. The captor couldn't have been older than fifteen or sixteen.

"Hello," his captor greeted, smiling snidely, "welcome home, boy."

_Home?_ Naruto mumbled something into his gag. The green-eyed boy seemed to understand as his smile widened. He nodded his head towards the left.

"Take a good long look before we burn it to pieces."

Naruto jerked his head over, ignoring the throbbing in his nose. His gasp was muffled by the gag. They were situated on what looked like a large wooden platform, at least fifty feet from the ground. Although he couldn't see what the mechanism which held it up looked like, he could see Konoha spread out below them, like a bird's eye map. The alarms he had heard earlier were blaring throughout the town. Hundreds of lights pinpricked the darkness as the village awoke.

"Think of how beautiful it'll look in flames," a voice whispered in his ear. Naruto's heart dropped.

"Hey, can I remove the gag Boss?" the boy turned towards the shadows. Naruto turned as well, squinting to see who this "Boss" was. A black shape detached itself from the cover of the tree branches, encircling the platform and effectively hiding it from view.

"Go ahead. We need him to cry out anyway."

As soon as he felt the gag give way, Naruto spat it out violently. He glared up at the green eyed boy.

"What are you planning to do?" he snarled.

The green eyes stared at him impassively. "We're going to attack it, obviously. Geez, are all Konoha ninjas this slow? The other two are still asleep."

Naruto glanced over to the side of the platform. There was Luffy and Zoro, sleeping as soundly as if they had never woken up from the tent. In fact, they probably hadn't. Zoro's swords were missing but otherwise, the two looked unhurt.

"We drugged them a little of course," green-eyes continued to gloat, "never noticed a thing. Slept on like little babies. Beautiful."

Naruto would have slapped his forehead if his hadn't been tied up. The Mugiwara or whatever they had called themselves, had been everything but useful on this trip. And now they were sleeping when Konoha was about to be attacked.

_We are screwed_

A streak of motion caught his attention. Two other figures darted onto platform. Both of them wore face masks.

"Everything is in place?" The "Boss" from the shadows asked calmly.

"Yeah. Oh man, this is gonna be cool!" The boy on the left half-yelled. Naruto once again marveled at their youth. The boy on the left had spiked up his hair so he nicknamed him Spike. The one on the right had a large scar on his bald head so he named him Scar. The boy behind him would be Green-eyes, and the guys in the shadows Boss. Somehow, the ridiculous titles calmed his nerves a little bit.

"Saru and Tao are both guarding NHA?" Scar asked, ignoring his hyperactive partner.

"Yeah, they should be about finished with preparations too," green-eyes answered

"Signal?" Boss asked.

"Ready."

The fifth shadow finally emerged from the shelter of the branches. His face was hidden by a face mask, similar to Kakashi's, but Naruto could make out two dark eyes, glinting coldly above the sharp nose. His tone was strangely lilting, as if he was singing rather than speaking.

"Then let us commence."

Spike emitted a crazed laugh.

A loud explosion shattered the air. Naruto looked on in horror as the first houses of Konoha began to crumble.


	6. Chapter 6: The Living Dead

Tsunade felt the first tremors of battle shake the earth as she stepped into town, wearing protective gear and armed with her fists. A burst of fire licked into the sky; vivid red and orange, eating hungrily at the roofs of several buildings. As people struggled to put the fire out, another explosion split the air, this time, on the far side of the village.

Genins and a couple of chunins were directing the confused civilians into the secret base where they would hide until the invasion passed by. A child fell down in the hustle and started to cry, quickly shushed by his mother who picked him up and rushed to join her husband.

"Tsunade sama!" Shizune met her near the edge of town, closer to the front entrance where the attacks seemed to coming from. The injured ANBU unit had been patrolling just outside the front gate when "shadows" suddenly attacked them. Tsunade had acted quickly, deploying several jounin to check the situation, then organizing the remaining jounin and chunin into an offense and defense unit. Now as she started to stare at the destruction beginning to unfold, she was suddenly jerked into the painful reality of the situation.

"How's the situation?" Tsunade asked, never tearing her eyes away from the front gate. It remained ominously free of obvious offenders.

"The explosions were cast all over town, but they were relatively easy to diffuse," Shizune reported, "no people were found although we found evidence of several."

"Any idea of what they are aiming for?"

"No ma'am."

Tsunade sighed. The most difficult battles were the ones where the enemy's target remained ambiguous.

As the initial confusion accompanying the fires died down, an eerie silence filled the vacated village. The shinobi groups stayed completely still as trained, ready to dive into a fight at a moment's notice.

"Well, well, looks like they got rid of our bombs. Cool."

The voice rang clearly out across the gathered troops. Heads swiveled, attempting to locate the source. Tsunade heard Shizune gasp as seven figures rose out of nowhere on top of the gate, seemingly detaching from themselves from the shadows. Tsunade squinted into the blurred outlines of the figures, trying to glimpse their faces.

"Who are you?" she bellowed.

…..

Nami awoke with a start to the sound of running feet and muffled voices. Rubbing sleep out of her eyes, she dragged herself out of her bed to the window.

"Is something wrong, Nami?" Robin called, already wide awake.

"There's a fire!" Nami gasped. Quickly grabbing a cardigan to wear over her thin pajama shirt, she rushed to the door. "Come on, we have to get the others."

As the two women hurried quickly down the hallway of the silent inn, they nearly crashed into Sanji who was also making his way down from the room with the rest of the Mugiwara crew trailing behind him.

"Nami-san, Robin-chan, are you all right?" he asked immediately.

"We heard a suuuuper explosion," Franky said, poking his head out from behind.

"An explosion?" Nami glanced him questioningly, "we saw a fire outside, but we never heard an explosion."

"Probably on the side of town outside of our room," Usopp suggested, scratching his nose.

"Anyway, we better get out of here and find out what's going on," Nami said decidedly. "Come on, before this building burns down as well."

….

"Who are you?" Naruto heard an all too familiar voice yell. Green-eyes had re-gagged him and now he was suspended in midair from chakra strings from behind the seven figures that stood on the Konoha gate. Zoro and Luffy slept on beside him, oblivious to the fact they were dangling from fifty feet off the ground from extended tree branches. After the second explosion, to his relief, the town had remained silent. The others must have already been diffused.

"We are the New Dawn," Naruto heard Boss say. There was an edge underneath his deceivingly soft tone, instantly commanding attention. "From the Village of Grass we have come to demonstrate our new will."

_The New Dawn? _

"The New Dawn?" Tsunade's mind was reeling. So these people were from the Village of Grass, assumedly the ones who had also sent the strange messages from the five main hidden villages.

"The five main villages of become arrogant and weak and corrupted in their power," Boss continued. "The smaller villages have also become meek. They have grown to fear these five villages that are superior only in numbers." Boss's voice suddenly turned angry, "Poor, naïve, ignorant fools! To think even our proud leader would decide to make an alliance with Konoha. We do not need your power to survive!"

Tsunade was beginning to grasp the situation. It was a rebellion, in a sense. Not a common situation but altogether, not an unusual one. She stared up at the shadows.

"So you look to take over Konoha?"

"We are not here to take over. We are here to crush you to nothing. We will soon move on to the four other villages. For the New Dawn, we must start over. We must start from the ashes and rise again!"

"Quite the idealistic one aren't you?" Tsunade said with sarcastic amusement.

"Do you laugh in the face of death, Hokage?"

Tsunade smirked. "You are young."

"You may smile now, oh great leader," the shadow spat contemptuously, "but you will soon be crying over the mutilated corpses of your loyal subordinates."

"If you desire a fight, Konoha will give you one." Tsunade beckoned mockingly. "Come down and show your faces."

The shadow emitted a cold laugh.

"It is not us you should worry about. It is them."

Tsunade's head snapped back to the ground. A mass of what looked like people were bubbling at the front gates of Konoha. But their movement was oddly stilted as if they had difficulty controlling their limbs. There was no distinguishable order amongst the group. Tsunade narrowed her eyes. The group of jounin and chunin shifted, ready to fight.

The first attack was so sudden the stumbling mass had no time to react. Kakashi, and two other jounin, leaped into the air and disappeared. The group from the village of grass exploded in the middle, breaking the clump up effectively. A couple of the figures were thrown forward to the reaches of the torch light. Others were sent flying backwards into the forest.

"They aren't very adept are they?" Shizune said with relief.

"No, wait." Tsunade stared at the fallen bodies.

So slowly it was almost painful to watch, one of the figures climbed back to its feet. The others which had been thrown forward did the same, in small arthritic movements. A smaller shinobi who had landed less than seven feet from Tsunade lifted his head, locking eyes with her. Tsunade gasped.

It was a child.

"What is the meaning of this?" Tsunade demanded, facing the center shadow again. "Are you so desperate you would force a child into battle?"

Boss laughed. "That is not a human child."

Tsunade glanced at the boy again. He looked no older than nine, his glittering black eyes staring at her dreamily. An image of her brother's face flashed through her head.

"Tsunade sama!"

Kakashi's voice pulled her back to reality. Tsunade looked up to see Kakshi kicking a woman into a tree, snapping her spine. The woman fell to the ground.

"Do not harm them!" Tsunade screamed hoarsely, "they are civilians!"

"No, Tsunade sama!" Kakashi yelled back, slicing a man across the throat. "These people are not alive!"

Tsunade froze.

"They keep getting back up!" Tsunade recognized Kiba as he punched an older man in the chest, then backing away, kunai drawn. Sure enough, the old man shook himself off and stood up as if Kiba has merely tapped him. The woman with the broken back was standing too, although she stood crookedly.

"YOU! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" Tsunade screamed.

"They were once the residents of our village," Boss responded. "It is a jutsu only we seven of the New Dawn have mastered. With it, we can conquer this world and the next."

"What have you _done_?"

"Those who are weak are but a hindrance to our goals. I gave their worthless lives a noble cause."

Tsunade gasped as something seized her leg. She looked down to see the child staring at her innocently.

"They are biological weapons; in mind and body. They can feel no pain. They cannot think for themselves. They are no better than walking corpses. Yet they do not die. "

The child was bleeding heavily from his left temple. His fingernails dug into Tsunade's skin. He had a kunai gripped in one hand. Drawing it back, he thrust it at Tsunade. She caught its blade in her hand, and winced as the blade dug into her palm. The child pushed forward with shocking strength, bringing the point closer to Tsunade's chest.

Tsunade stared at the child in horror, barely registering the throbbing pain in her hands as the blade bit deeper. Just then, the child suddenly froze. He opened his mouth, eyes widening slightly as his entire body burst into flame. Tsunade felt something pulling her back as the fire increased in intensity, swallowing the writhing form up within seconds.

As the charred body fell to the ground, Tsunade saw Kakashi beside her. He looked grim behind his mask. "You cannot defeat them unless you completely destroy their bodies!" Kakshi shouted to the rest of the fighting shinobi. "Leave no pity for women and children-they are no longer alive!"

"How dare you," Tsunade whispered, "how _dare_ you play around with human life. Human life," she screamed, "is not something that you can treat with such disrespect. YOU ARE NOT A GOD."

With a roar of rage, Tsunade sprinted towards the gate and smashed her fist into it. It crumbled into smithereens. Three of the shadows were forced to jump lightly to the ground. Without hesitating, Tsunade charged towards the central one, fists raised.

….

Naruto struggled furiously with his bonds. New jutsu granting artificial life? Destroy the five main villages? He had no time to be hanging here. But these charka strings were unusually strong.

As he kicked futilely, he saw the front gates crumble. Tsunade appeared, eyes filled with rage. Boss leaped to the side as she charged towards him, smoothly dodging the attack. Tsunade whirled around and smashed her fist into the ground, causing the ground around it to crumble. Boss, and who he guessed was Spike, jumped from fragment to fragment, until they were safely out of the pit that formed.

"BASTARDS!"

Out of nowhere, Sakura materialized behind the New Dawn. Before Naruto could call out to her, she kicked the tree with Naruto and Zoro and Luffy hanging from its branches, down with her inhuman strength. Naruto yelled as the ground came up closer and closer.

"SAKURA CHAN! STOP THE TREE!"

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, anticipating the weight of the tree which would soon crush him.

When the impact never came, he dared to look. He found his feet less than an inch from the ground, the tree stopped at an angle. Sakura's pink head flickered at the edge of his vision.

"Naruto?" she gaped. She was holding the tree up.

"Oh thank god," he breathed.

"Nartuo?" Tsunade stared at three dangling awkwardly from the slanted tree. "What the heck are you doing there?"

"Um…I was…"

"You let your guard down, Hokage."

Tsunade felt something pat her back. Her vision went blurry. The world warped, Sakura's face and the trees melding together in a confusion of browns and greens. She felt her knees give out.

"Baa-chan!" Naruto shouted.

"Shishou!" Sakura screamed in alarm. She let the tree go and rushed over to Tsunade's aid.

"GAH!"

Naruto was falling again. He was going to get crushed by the tree, tied up in chakra strings.

_I'm not going to die in such a stupid way _

Nsruto stuck out his feet and braced himself, biting his lip as the tree groaned to a halt, weighing down on his back. His feet dug into the hard soil. The tree was _heavy_.

"Sakura…chan….help…" Naruto called weakly, as he felt his knees buckling.

The chakra strings around him loosened suddenly. Naruto rapidly whirled around and pushed tree with all his strength to the side, so as it crashed, Zoro and Luffy remained on top. How the _hell_ were the sleeping through this? Panting, he leaned against the trunk, trying to catch his breath. Sakura had dragged Tsunade to stable ground, and checking her for vital signs as the fight in the village continued to rage on. The New Dawn people were….

"One down, six to go."

Naruto's head snapped around.

It was the orange-haired girl from the Mugiwara pirates, hands on her hips. The moving skeleton sheathed his sword. Scar crumpled to the ground.

Naruto gaped. Sakura stared.

"Luffy," Nami called, "Zoro. How long are you planning to sleep?"

The two snored in response.

"OH, I THINK I JUST SAW A WALKING FISH EATING **MEAT** AND DRINKING **SAKE**," the one with long nose shouted.

Luffy's head snapped up. "Meat? Where?"

Zoro's eyes opened. "I heard Sake."

Nami sighed in exasperation. "Honestly you two." She pointed to the shadows that were now clustered in front of the village, facing the new intruders. "You have work to do."

"How did they defeat Scar so easily?" Green-eyes gasped softly. For once he was not smirking.

"That last attack Scar threw should have distorted his chakra." A member Naruto had never seen glanced nervously at the Mugiwara. He had absolutely no defining features so Naruto dubbed him "plain."

"Huh?" Luffy glanced down at the chakra bonds. "Huh? Why am I tied to a tree?"

"I can slice…hey…where are my swords?" Zoro swiveled his head.

"They took them, I'm assuming," Nami pointed to the New Dawn, "now go kick their asses so we can get some sleep."

Luffy glanced at the attackers. Zoro glared at them so ferociously, green eyes took an involuntary step back.

"Oi, Luffy."

"I know. Gear Second!"

Luffy's skin hissed and glowed in the night. The Chakra strings evaporated off of him like dew before the sun. Leaping to his feet, he swung his arm back and forth, warming them up.

"Yosh!" he called. His expression turned serious as he regarded the six remaining attacker. "Now...who has Zoro's swords?"


	7. Chapter 7: Truth Revealed!

"He just…melted my chakra strings…" Another member Naruto had yet to see was staring at Luffy in disbelief. His eyes were colored and off shade of violet.

_Purple eyes_ Naruto decided

"What is this shinobi?" Boss asked coldly. "He uses strange jutsus."

"We are not shinobi!" Nami interrupted, "we're pirates."

"A woman pirate? That's cool!" Spike laughed, seemingly unconcerned. Nami stared at him.

Naruto went over the members in his head.

_It is a jutsu only we seven of the New Dawn have mastered _Boss's words came echoing back to him.

So seven members. The skeleton had incapacitated Scar. Naruto started to count of the remaining members. Green eyes, Purple eyes, Plain, Spike, and Boss. That was five of them. Where was the last one?

"Na, na," Luffy said impatiently, "who took Zoro's swords? Tell me or I have to beat you all up."

"You talk big for a shrimp," Green-eyes snapped. He stepped forward, eyes glinting angrily.

"Luffy," Nami called, "you can't get the money for the mission unless you beat these people up. A lot hangs on the money." She flashed her thumbs up. "Fight for the money!"

"Oi, oi," Ussop and Chopper said simultaneously.

"Nami-swaaaan is so cut even when she's being materialistic!" Samji sang.

"Mission?" Luffy turned. "Oh yeah, speaking of that, somebody burned down the entire grass village. We couldn't find anybody left."

"The people who burned down the village were them Luffy," Usopp informed him. "They took the people and killed all of them. Now they fused them with some sort of artificial life technique and forcing them to attack the village." Usopp pointed towards Konoha. "The Shinobi are fighting right now."

"What?!" Luffy's expression darkened. He turned on Green-eyes who was advancing slowly. "So you bastards were the one who destroyed the village."

"Huh. So what? They were all useless." Green eyes slid off his cloak. He held his hands up with a flourish. "I'll take this one Boss."

"Tao, Saru, Ryu," Boss commanded, "Go to Kai and finish things in the village."

Purple-eyes, Plain, and Spike nodded and leaped up into the trees, leaving Boss and Green eyes behind to face the Mugiwara.

"I won't let you!" Sakura bellowed, quickly pursuing them.

"Sakura chan!" Naruto moved to follow her when another wave of dizziness hit him. He was forced back down. Boss's dark gaze bore into him.

Green eyes laughed. "Don't bother. Boss can project Distortions over long distances. And now that four of us are controlling things in the village, this is as good as finished. So shrimp boy," he turned towards Luffy, "you're the only thing left."

"So you're the boss?" Luffy said to the masked figure, completely ignoring Green-eyes. "Great. Then I'll beat you up first."

"Luffy, swords!" Zoro growled.

"Looking pretty dumb there, aren't you marimo?" Sanji sniggered.

"Shut up, damn cook!"

"Both of you quit fighting!" Nami snapped.

Naruto watched Green-eyes with something close to pity.

_They're not taking him seriously at all…._

"Hey! Don't take your eyes off your enemy!" Green-eyes yelled irritably, charging towards Luffy. His fingers were outstretched in strange positions. He was seemingly weaponless. Naruto wondered what exactly he was playing at, when he spotted a strange warp surrounding Green-eye's hands.

"Distortion!"

"Luffy!" Nartuo yelled. "Watch out!"

It was too late. The Distortion hit Luffy full in the chest.

Naruto stared. Green-eyes stared. Boss stared.

Luffy remained standing, unaffected. Green-eyes stared disbelievingly at his hand as if it had betrayed him.

"Impossible…that should have messed up your Chakra circulation permanently! You should be dead!" he gasped hoarsely.

Luffy's eyes were suddenly cold; two bottomless black depths so different from his usual careless demeanor. Naruto gulped, suddenly glad he wasn't in Green-eye's position.

"I don't know what Chakra is, but you're way too weak." Luffy threw back both his fists. "Armament Haki!" A strange gray material encased his hands. "Gomu Gomu no, Gattling Gun!"

In a blur, Luffy's fists pounded into Green-eyes, sending him flying into the air. Luffy drew back his fist again. "Pistol!"

Green-eye's limp body crashed beyond the remains of the gate, sending him careening into the village. Without pausing, Luffy snapped his arm back and turned on Boss.

"Gear second!" he barked, his skin glowing again. Nartuo stared in amazement as Luffy's speed suddenly increased, way too fast for the human eye to catch.

"Gomu Gomu no…." Boss was thrown back by the incredible force, following Green-eyes through the gates of the village, "JET PISTOL!"

"Oi…he's going to finish this before you get your swords back, Zoro," Sanji said as the crew watched their leader leap into the village after his targets.

"Wouldn't speak too soon." Zoro jumped down to the ground, lightly landing on the balls of his feet. "These things are weaker than they look."

Naruto stared at him. He just broke through chakra strings with brute strength? Was that even possible?

"Yosh!" Zoro started to head off into the forest, "let's get a nice warm up before dinner!"

"It's in the middle of the night and the village is _this way_!" Nami, Sanji, and Usopp yelled at the same time, pointing to the village.

Nartuo staggered to his feet and stopped where Sakura had laid Tsunade. He bent down and wrapped one of the Hokage's limp arms around his shoulder. His mind seemed reasonably clear now; Boss may have been able to project his Distortions, but they were considerably weaker than when he had physical contact with the target.

"We have to get to the village. They're fighting people who don't die," Naruto called to the Mugiwara.

"Reminds me a bit of Thriller Bark," Sanji remarked, lighting a cigarette, except those zombies couldn't do squat."

"YOHOHOHO! And that's where I joined the crew, is it not?" Brook added jovially. He bowed towards Naruto. "I will protect this village to the best of my abilities! Allow me to offer my heart and soul in this fight. Although I don't have a heart to offer! YOHOHOHOHO!"

Franky snapped his blocky arms together. "Suuuuuper, leave it to me!"

…

Meanwhile in the village, shocked shinobi paused in the middle of their fight as a great cloud of dust ballooned up from the center of the front grounds which had been turned into a battle field. Before the dust cleared, a second force sped into the cloud, the impact sending cracks running throughout the ground.

"What is that?" Tao, aka Purple-eyes, asked from his post on one of the upper branches. Beside him were his three companions. All four had hundred of chakra strings extending from the tips of their fingers.

"what are you doing?" a voice whispered in his ear.

"I'm controlling the corpses, duh," Purple-eyes whispered back impatiently. Then something hit him. He was the only one on this particular branch…there shouldn't have been anybody behind him. He whirled around but it was too late. With a cry, he was sent flying into the air. He glanced over to see his three companions subject to similar treatment. The four landed lightly in front of the staring shinobi.

"Oho, so what is this about 'controlling the corpses?"

Purple-eyes looked up to see an orange-haired woman staring down at him.

Behind Nami, Robin released her crossed arms. The hands, mouths, and ears, which had materialized on the trees that the New Dawn had been using, disappeared.

The dust had cleared as well, revealing Green-eyes, knocked out cold. In front of him was Boss, deep rivets cut into the earth surrounding his feet from the force of Luffy's arrack. Luffy was also there, glaring at the offenders.

"I FOUND YOU!" Sakura's voice rang out above the clearing. She came flying out of the trees, ready to attack, heading straight towards Spike. He smirked. Two of his fingers twitched.

Three of the Grass-villagers were jerked up into the air. Their hands stretched towards Sakura, and locked together, encasing her in a human cage. Sakura yelped and none too gently to the ground in a confusing mass of limbs.

"Sakura chan!" Naruto appeared from the gate, dragging Tsunade with him.

"Tsunade sama!" A battle-weary Shizune ran out to meet them.

"Everybody from Konoha, please stand back," Nami announced, "we'll handle things here."

"I'll go tend to the injured!" Chopper announced, running back towards the makeshift infirmary after Shizune.

"Oi, let go of that lady!" Sanji yelled. Running towards the struggling Sakura, he knocked the zombies away. Sakura leaped to her feet. She turned towards Nami.

"What do you mean stand back?" she shouted, "we can't just wait and watch while our village is attacked."

"That's why we're asking you to leave it to us," Nami replied cheerfully, "we'll beat them all to pulp."

"Hey! Don't say that when you're just going to force us to do the work!" Usopp protested.

"How! The enemy cannot die!" Sakura shouted. "No matter how strong you are, you can't kill them!"

"That's because they are already dead," Kakashi interrupted. He took a step back. His sharingan flared red. "Stand back Sakura. Right now we can't beat these people. We have no choice but to leave it to the Mugiwara."

"Kakashi sensei!"

"The enemy can distort chakra circulation. It could be fatal. These people don't have chakra in their bodies."

Sakura gaped. "How is that possible?"

"We come from a different dimension," Robin interrupted, "so it isn't surprising the body constitution is different. The people you fight are not actually alive. They are not zombies."

"What do you mean, Robin," Usopp asked.

"Sure enough, they did infuse a small amount of chakra into each of the villagers. But remember Sakura, there are not jutsus in the world that can give life, even artificial life, without great sacrifice."

Sakura's eyes widened. Her memory flashed back to Chiyo-baasan.

"In other words, these corpses are being controlled by an intricate system, like puppets," Robin continued, "they are nothing but dolls in the hands of the New Dawn."

"The fighting level of the grass-villagers went up just a while ago," Kakshi said.

"When the other three members of the New Dawn joined up with the one already controlling them," Robin nodded.

"The chakra strings are so thin, they were nearly invisible, even to my sharingan. The amount of chakra infused into the bodies of the villagers also make the chakra control even easier, since its technically not much different from moving the chakra in your own body. The chakra string are what connects the master to the puppets, so to speak."

"So upon analysis of this situation,"

"we can conclude,"

"that if we beat the New Dawn members, these people will stop moving," Robin and Kakshi ended at the same time.

"Whoa…they're totally in sync," Usopp shivered.

"Suuuppeeer scary," Franky agreed.

"Yosh! So it's simple." Eyes turned towards Luffy, facing off with Boss. "We beat them up and the battle ends there."

"Four people are nothing," Sanji smirked.

"Don't forget our 'puppets' now," Plain, aka Saru, snarled. "Just because you figured this out doesn't mean you can defeat them."

"We'll see about that," Zoro growled. He punched his open palm. "Now, who has my swords?"

"That would be me big boy." The seventh member Naruto had been unable to find, Kai, stepped forward, rust-red hair glinting in the torch light. A dozen villager-puppets surrounding him. "And bad luck for you, I just happen to be the strongest puppeteer."

"Great," Zoro smiled savagely, "I'm itching for a fight now."

"There's about five hundred villagers," Kakashi warned. The exhausted Konoha shinobi were making their way to the sidelines, out of the Mugiwara's way. "They might be a small village but there are only nine of you. Eight, without the shinobi raccoon."

"I'M A REINDEER!" a voice yelled from the direction of the infirmary.

"We've taken on 100,000 enemies before," Usopp replied. He removed his slingshot. "We can do this, no problem."

"The rest of you can sit out. I can take them on my own," Zoro said.

"Don't get too excited now," Sanji smirked.

"Same to you, curly eyebrows."

"Right." Nami raised her Clima-tact. "Let's go!"


	8. Chapter 8:Battle Ends! Goodbye Mugiwara!

"Green star…!"

"Collier…!"

"Treintar fleur!"

Green plants spurted from the ground, wrapping around and immobilizing a large group of the grass-villagers. Sanji leaped into the air, aiming his feet towards Spike. Robin's hands appeared around Plain's neck.

"…Devil!"

"…SHOOT!"

"Clutch!"

Plain was the first too fall, Robin's attack rendering him unconscious. Immediately, a ring of the grass-villagers who had been surrounding him fell to the ground.

Spike glanced up at Sanji and flicked his fingers. A crowd of the human puppets converged on Sanji, covering him from head to toe.

"You're annoying!" Sanji burst through the human wall, his leg on fire. The hit was direct. Spike never stood a chance. Sanji glared at him, five feet down in the ground.

"You need to learn how to treat a lady correctly," he snapped.

"Haha…I've just been beaten…heh…cool…" Spike gasped. His hands went limp. More villagers dropped around the Mugiwara.

"Usopp!" Nami called, "over here!"

"Yosh!" Usopp fired another pop green at Purple-eyes. A green vine materialized, intertwining itself around him. The vine suddenly tossed him into the air, throwing him towards Nami.

"Here I go," Nami whirled her Clima-tact, "watch out for lightning!"

Snaps of electricity covered Purple-eyes. He had time to cry out once before the lightning flared. His smoking body fell to the ground.

"How many are left?" Nami asked, withdrawing her Clima-tact with a satisfied smirk.

"Just, two," Franky replied, shaking off a hoard of the human puppets trying to climb up his cyborg body. Brook slashed several of them with his sword. The bodies lay still for a minute, and then stood back up in a series of arthritic jerks, coming at Brook again.

"Why are there so many left?" Usopp asked, "there's only two of the actual attackers left."

"Except the problem are those two who are left," Robin said, nodding over at Kai and Boss. "They're most likely the strongest two here."

…..

Tsunade groaned, her eyes reopening. She found a concerned Shizune leaning over her.

"Tsunade sama?"

"Urgh…" Tsunade shifted into a sitting position. Her head throbbed and her mouth felt dry. "what's happening?"

"The New Dawn did something strange to you. They call it 'distortion' as if interrupts the chakra flow of the enemy," Shizune explained.

Tsunade's eyes shot open. "The villagers!"

"The Mugiwara are taking care of them right now," Shizune assured.

"That's right," the shinobi reindeer appeared at Tsunade's elbow, carrying a cup holding pungent smelling liquid, "here, drink this. You should be fine in no time."

"You are a doctor?" Tsunade asked with surprise. She had never heard to shinobi animals being used in the medical field.

"Yes, I'm the doctor on our ship," Chopper stuck out his hoof, "I never got to introduce myself properly. My name is Chopper."

…

Naruto stared as the Mugiwara easily dispatched all but two of the New Dawn. Now Luffy was left with Boss and Zoro was left with the one who was called Kai; the two members of the Mugiwara who had originally set out on the mission.

"Hey!" Zoro barked, "somebody throw me a sword!"

The Konoha shinobi looked around. "we don't fine with swords!" Naruto called, "we fight with kunai and throwing stars!"

"Here!" Ino, her blond hair sticking out messily from the confusion, threw Zoro a wooden pole, "this is the closest we have!"

Zoro caught the pole and examined it skeptically. He shrugged.

"Haha!" Kai laughed, showing all his teeth. "You really think you can face off this many of my cute little subordinates with a wooden stick? Don't make me laugh!"

"You're already laughing though. YOHOHOHOHO!" Brook cracked.

"Nobody touches this guy," Zoro growled, crouching into position, "he's mine."

"We know," Sanji said, pulling out another cigarette, "it was your mission to begin with. Idiot."

"Heh." Zoro raised the wooden pole. "72-pound cannon…"

"I control two hundred and fifty of these villagers," Kai said confidently, "I may not be as strong in combat as the boss, but I am the strongest puppeteer. There is no way your wooden stick will—"

"…IMRPROVISED VERSION!"

The front part of the "zombie" group was blown into the air. Kai looked up at them, shocked. Zoro caught sight of a hilt underneath his opponent's robe.

"wide open!' he yelled. Kai's head snapped toward Zoro. He leaped back, narrowly avoiding the wooden pole flying towards him. Zoro lunged forward and withdrew _Wado Ichimonji_, its white sheath glimmering as it returned to its owner. Zoro tucked it into his belt and drew the blade.

"One," he grinned.

Kai skidded backwards, gritting his teeth. "Are you human?" he gasped.

"It's some bad luck you have," Zoro growled, "it seems the people from this world don't know how to deal with our crew."

Kai pulled his puppets back towards him, forming a tight wall of humanity. Zoro held out his blade. "Ittoryu…"

A wave of human mass rushed towards him.

"….Shishi…SONSON!"

The wave broke against the blade. Before Kai could regain his senses, Zoro leaped forward and hit him hard with the back of his blade. As the red-haired boy doubled over, Zoro reached forward and withdrew both _Shusui_ and _Sandai Kitetsu_.

"You!" Kai's eyes burned. The humans picked themselves back up for the third time.

"Play time is over," Zoro snarled.

"You monster!"

"Santoryu…"

"Hey," Naruto stared at the watching Mugiwara crew, "he's going to use three swords?"

"Yep," Usopp told him, looking completely unconcerned, "it's his personal style."

"Kokujou….OTATSUMAKI!" **(a/n: Black Rope Dragon Twister)**

A gust of wind cycled up in a howling tornado, sweeping Kai and all the grass-villagers with him.

"What the hell is this?" Naruto yelled over the noise. "_are _you guys human?"

"_He_ isn't!" Nami shouted back.

Zoro sheathed his swords. Kai fell limply to the ground, mouth gaping open, locked in its shock. "You need to train more, kid," Zoro told the unconscious boy.

"Gomu Gomu no…JET PISTOL!"

Boss crashed into the ground, barely five feet to Zoro's left. Luffy was running after him, skin steaming from gear second. His leg extended, smashing into the already prone figure of Boss.

"You will never," Boss gasped, "defeat the New Dawn! The NHA! The New Future!"

"NHA?" Luffy cocked his head.

"The New Human Army! We will—"

"New this, New that, you're really loud and annoying!" Luffy's fist smashed into Boss's stomach. "You're way too weak to be a leader!"

Boss raised his hand, pulling several of the grass villagers as a body shield. Luffy kicked them away easily. He grabbed Boss by the collar. The mask had been ripped off during the attack, revealing a smooth lower face no older than fifteen, possibly even fourteen. The cold eyes did not belong.

"It's just a kid!" Usopp exclaimed.

"I'll kill you," Boss glared at Luffy.

"You can't kill me," Luffy said matter-of-factly, "I'm going to be the pirate king someday."

Luffy drew his fist back.

"The New Dawn will exist forever!" Boss yelled.

"To have an ambition is a great thing," Luffy growled, "but killing innocent people to achieve it is wrong."

Luffy knocked Boss clear across the battle grounds, into the remains of the wall. The Boss gasped once as his back smashed into the wood.

"You can't become truly strong unless you find something to protect," Luffy said seriously. His voice rang clearly above the silent onlookers. He pointed as Boss. "So calm down and eat some meat."

Boss opened his mouth as if to reply. But instead, he slid down the gate and collapsed into a heap. He didn't move. The last of the grass-villagers fell and lay still as well.

"Meat?" Nartuo repeated. "why, meat?"

"Because our captain is an idiot," Nami grumbled.

"Haha…well…looks like the battle is over," Robin commented.

"Suuuuper!"

It started as scattered applause. Then it grew into loud cheering. Then the crowd roared.

"Mugiwara! Mugiwara!" a chant started up amongst the shinobi, despite the carnage and destruction before them.

"Mugiwara!"

Heads swiveled as Tsunade entered the clearing. She felt remarkably better after drinking whatever Chopper had given her. Tsunade glanced at the mess then at the completely uninjured group of pirates.

"The clean up shall be extensive," Tsunade said clearly. "The enemy was young but powerful. Konoha thanks you and tomorrow, a celebration shall be held for a mission well accomplished. There were no casualties in this battle."

"Yosh! A feast!" Luffy pumped his fist in the air. Approving cheers resounded around him.

"As further sign of our thanks, all debts of yours shall be cleared."

Nami looked absolutely triumphant.

…

Bartholomew Kuma walked into Vegapunk's lab. It had been exactly two days, ten hours, and forty two minutes since he had called for a Transport. As temperamental as the man was, Vegapunk was for sure, a genius.

"Get in," Vegapunk barked, pointing an odd cylindrical machine as soon as Kuma walked in, "and don't touch anything!"

Kuma obeyed, stepping into the tight partition. A transparent barrier slid over him.

"Once you get there, you have exactly two hours to look for the Mugiwara and get them back. If you don't make it back to the portal by then, it'll close and you'll be stuck in that dimension with them. And just making myself clear, I am _not_ going after you!"

"Understood," came the short answer.

"Okay then. Don't blame me if you get ripped in half during this. Inter dimensional travel is pretty dodgy and with the time restraint I didn't get time to make sure it worked right."

"That's comforting."

"Yes well, whatever. Here we go!" Vegapunk slid down the level.

Kuma found himself thrown into a confusing vortex of black and blue, clashing flashes hurting his eyes. It lasted an interminable amount of time. Just as he thought something really had gone wrong, he landed into a hard-packed dirt path.

"Somebody just fell out of the sky!" a voice screamed.

Kuma slowly picked himself up. He had managed to land smack in the middle of a large crowd, milling about in what looked like a town. He scanned his surroundings. Men, women, and children, stared at him fearfully from all sides.

"Oi, Kuma!" a familiar voice yelled.

Kuma turned to see Mugiwara Luffy, bouncing towards him on the shoulders of several villagers, mouth full of food. It was then Kuma noticed the long wooden table set up in the center of the village, loaded down with food. The skeleton was playing a jig beside it on a violin. The reindeer, Sogeking, and cyborg, were dancing in the midst of it, a crowd of laughing people joining them while laughing.

"You can sure hold your liquor, swords-brat!"

"So can you, old lady!"

Kuma found the green-haired swordsman, gulping down sake with a pale-blonde woman. A mountain of empty bottles piled up beside them.

"Ah…I'm in heaven!"

The blond curly-eyebrow was sitting surrounded by a group of admiring girls, from this village, judging by their clothes.

"Sanji-sama, you're so funny!" one of them flirted.

"Sanji-sama, you're so great!"

"Sanji-sama!"

"KUMA!" an irritated voice snapped.

_Uh oh_

Kuma turned to see the orange-haired girl charging towards him, fuming. "I WANT MY MONEY BACK!" she yelled. Nico Robin trailed behind, laughing softly.

"We will speak of business transactions when we return. For now, I have come to fetch you back," Kuma told her.

A disappointed groan sounded among the villagers.

"You're leaving already?"

"You should stay longer!"

The pale-blonde with the swordsman stood up and approached them. "You are leaving now?" she asked Nami.

"The portal can only stay open for two more hours," Kuma explained. He wondered if he shouldn't have come at all. The Mugiwara looked as if they had made a friend of this village. "So please collect your luggage."

…..

Forty five minutes later, the Mugiwara were standing with a pile of bags behind them, surrounded by a ring of people to see them off. The portal was a black gap in front of them.

"Have a safe trip back," Tsunade told them, at the head of the group.

"Yeah, bye Tsukake-baachan."

"It's Tsunade." Tsunade sighed and laughed. "It can't be helped I suppose."

"Chopper!" Sakura handed the reindeer a small bag. "I put some Throatroot in there for you. Thanks for all your help."

"Wow!" Chopper's eyes glimmered with tears. "Thanks, Sakura!"

Naruto extended his hand towards Luffy. Luffy took it and shook it firmly.

"You better become the pirate king, Monkey D. Luffy."

"You better become the Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Whoa!" Sanji's eyes widened. "Luffy actually got one name right!"

Luffy turned and faced the portal. The rest of the crew followed.

"Ready?" Kuma asked them. They nodded. Kuma slipped into the portal and disappeared.

"Yosh! Here we go!" Luffy shouted jumping in after him. Zoro followed with Usopp.

"Ladies first." Sanji helped Robin and Nami into the portal then jumped after them, loaded down with Nami's discounted purchases. Chopper tearfully departed next.

"YOHOHOHOHO! THANK YOU EVERYBODY!" Brook sang and disappeared. Franky was the last to go. The portal sealed up behind them leaving the Konoha village unusually silent.

"They're gone," Sakura said, a hint of regret in her voice. She had grown attached to the boisterous group quickly.

"Yes they are," Naruto agreed. "They've gone to achieve their goals." He stared up at the sky. The sunset had painted the sky a brilliant gold. "That Monkey D. Luffy…never once looked back…"

…

**Omake**

Crocodile stared at the unfamiliar surroundings. The landscape reminded him much of Alabasta's deserts, the sand stretching as far as the eye could see. Not that he had a problem with that, but he should seek out civilization soon. Damn the government, sending him off to god knows where. After he had broken out of Impel Down, they had sent Kuma after him, with orders to transport him back to another prison. But this sure as hell didn't look like a prison.

"Who are you?" a soft voice asked.

Crocodile turned to find a small red-haired boy eyeing him with passive eyes. The boy was pale despite the heat of the desert sun, and his eyes were so blank they looked almost unnatural. Crocodile also noticed the strange black rings that surrounded the boy's eyes.

"I am Crocodile. Who are you?"

"I am Gaara. You are in the territory of The Land of Wind. State your business and your village."

"Hmmm? You ordering me around? Crocodile allowed sand to surround him, his eyes boring into the boy.

"I am the kage of this land," Gaara replied. His eyes widened at Crocodile's use of sand. He had never met anybody who could use the same jutsu as him. Not to be undermined, he also allowed a cloak of sand to surround him.

"Hmm…so you fight with sand too, eh?" Crocodile asked lazily. He hid his surprise. Devil fruits were each one of a kind-this kid couldn't possibly possess the same powers as him.

"You are a sand user? Interesting."

Crocodile smiled humorlessly. He beckoned towards the boy. Gaara. "Would you like to test who is stronger?"

**A/N: Thank you very much for following this story until the end and all your wonderful reviews. It was my first crossover and juggling all the characters with their unique personalities and the plot proved to be difficult, so I am glad people seemed to have enjoyed it.**

**And for hardcore Naruto over One Piece fans, I must apologize. I let my favoritism get the better of me and made the Mugiwara Crew totally OP (see what I did there?) Naruto is awesome, and he was my first anime crush, but I just wanted Luffy's bad-assery to shine. **

**Arigatogozaimashita! **


End file.
